Dr. Chia current work?

[halcyon]

That's a good question, I'm not really sure which exact tests are enough to rule it out. I've only had a negative ANA as well. Have you been tested for thyroid antibodies?

 

[halcyon]

I started at ¼ tab last week, a few days later felt like I crashed, but it could have been unrelated. Really hard for me to tell, but I stopped it for a few days and was planning to go back to an even smaller dose, if my cheap pill cutter will cooperate!

I definitely had a mini crash when I started it, but it's been mostly uphill since then. Did you get any fever or flu-like symptoms?

It can be a royal pain to get the pills to break into equal size pieces. I rely on a milligram scale to get the dose constant.

 

[KRR]

Re. Thyroid antibodies, I don't recall, but standard thyroid panels are always negative. Well, except when I once specifically asked for FREE T3 and then my doc was stunned to see that low, when TSH was "normal." I couldn't tolerate any hormone replacement, though.

With the recent week on Equilibrant, no fever, just a worsening of my usual flu-like malaise and unbearable restless fatigue and insomnia. For me I'm sure a bit of fever would be a good thing, and I'd bear with it.

Re. Milligram scale, I once looked into buying an apothecary scale but they all seemed prohibitively expensive. Any recommendations? Would be nice to be able to be more precise in cutting other meds too. I always want to use the absolute smallest effective dose of certain ones that have particularly problematic side effects.

Good to hear your experience on the uphill side of things!

 

[halcyon]

They can be had for $10-$20 on amazon.com. I'm not sure if I'd recommend the one I have as it gets a lot of bad reviews.

 

[SOC]

Re. Thyroid antibodies, I don't recall, but standard thyroid panels are always negative. Well, except when I once specifically asked for FREE T3 and then my doc was stunned to see that low, when TSH was "normal." I couldn't tolerate any hormone replacement, though.

Were you prescribed synthroid (T4) or liothyronin (T3)? Some simple-minded endocrinologists and GPs will only prescribe synthroid on the the theory that "T4 converts to T3, so it's fine" ignoring the fact that the problem may very well be in the conversion process if your T4 is normal and T3 is very low. You might respond badly to increasing T4, which you don't need, if it's not converting effectively to T3, which you do need.

It might be worth looking into trying liothyronine, but you might have to find an intelligent doctor willing to think instead of using ridiculously broad medical generalizations as if they were religious dogma.

 

[Never Give Up]

Re.
With the recent week on Equilibrant, no fever, just a worsening of my usual flu-like malaise and unbearable restless fatigue and insomnia. For me I'm sure a bit of fever would be a good thing, and I'd bear with it.

Dr. Chia told us to expect a worsening of symptoms, fluishness, and possibly fevers for anywhere from 3 days to 1 1/2 months, with most people experiencing 3-14 days of it. This is expected to happen upon starting Equilibrant and with each dose increase. He said to wait until the extra sickness passes and is better for a while before increasing the dose and to back it down if the extra sickness persists.